The recent sale of a single-owner collection of Moorcroft pottery by Kingham & Orme in Evesham demonstrated two distinct faces of the Staffordshire factory.

Extracted from Antiques Trade Gazette | Roland Arkell

The best-seller among 324 lots was a large two-handled baluster vase, c.1910, that combines a deep frieze of finely observed pomegranates with panels of poppies to the neck.

In the opinion of Walter Moorcroft (son of the founder William), this 12½in (31cm) high vase was the finest piece the Moorcroft factory ever produced.

Last on the market in December 1997 when sold by Toronto auction house Waddingtons for Can$17,000 (then £7400), the hammer price this time was £16,000.

However, the centrepiece of the collection sold on June 15 was more than 170 miniatures – the diminutive replicas of larger factory productions measuring just a few centimetres high. The best of them commanded prices to rival those of full-size pieces.